


Tower of Shadows

by Queenofdragons6



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Original Character(s), So Many Shadows
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-10
Updated: 2018-10-10
Packaged: 2019-07-29 04:48:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,707
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16256984
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Queenofdragons6/pseuds/Queenofdragons6
Summary: Goro wakes up in a strange tower.





	Tower of Shadows

**Author's Note:**

> My piece for the Crimson Compendium fan zine.

He was floating. Floating numbly in a dark void.

The moment he was aware of it, he realized that he wasn’t supposed to be there.

_Where am I?_

As his mind began to clear, the void faded away.

He felt…heavy. Weighed down.

He tried to force his muscles to work, to get up and move, but all he could get were slight twitches.

Finally, he managed to get some noticeable movement from his fingers.

“Hmm? Are you awake?”

He tensed up at the unfamiliar voice and forced his eyes open.

A green haze was all he could see at first. He blinked a few times, but his vision barely cleared.

A human figure appeared, leaning over him and waving their hand in front of his face. “Can you hear me?”

He gave a strangled cough. “Wh… Where…”

The figure tilted their head. “I’d give you water, but I’m not sure if you’re conscious enough for that.”

The voice was definitely female, if a bit odd-sounding. He could focus enough to tell that the figure seemed human, though something seemed off.

A hand caressed his face and a wave of drowsiness overtook him. “Maybe you should sleep a little longer.”

Thoughts of protest bubbled up in his mind before his eyes slid shut.

0~*~0

The next time he woke up, his eyes opened more easily. His body still felt heavy, but not as much as before. He was lying on something warm and soft, and the ceiling above was white tinged green, from what he could tell.

“Where…am…” He coughed again. His throat felt so dry, it was almost painful.

“Three hours,” said the voice from before. “Not as long as I would’ve thought, but I suppose you’ve been asleep for long enough.”

He heard footsteps coming towards him, and the figure from before appeared again. His vision was clear enough for him to be able to tell that it was a young woman.

…At least, if it wasn’t for the fact that its eyes were entirely black.

“Do you remember your name?”

…And for the noticeable reverberation effect in its voice.

Regardless, he answered, “G-Goro…Akechi…”

His voice sounded as dry as his throat felt.

The being pursed its lips and suddenly whatever Goro was lying on adjusted itself so that he was mostly sitting up.

A half-empty glass of water was held up to Goro’s face. “You sound like you need this.”

Goro somewhat reluctantly opened his mouth and the glass was almost hastily thrust towards him. He nearly choked on the water before remembering how to swallow. When all the water was gone, the glass was taken away and put somewhere Goro couldn’t see it.

The being stared at him with curiosity. “What’s the last thing you remember before waking up here?”

Goro scrunched up his eyes as he tried to remember. “Uh… Losing to the Phantom Thieves and locking myself in with my Cognitive self.”

“Anything after that?”

“…Lying on the floor of the engine room, I think…”

“Anything else?”

Goro tried to remember, but his mind felt hazy; it was difficult to think clearly, let alone try to remember what happened after getting shot. “I don’t know.”

“That’s okay. You only recently awoke and you came pretty close to dying of blood loss. I’d be surprised if you _did_ clearly remember everything that happened.”

Goro opened his eyes and stared at the human-like being. “Just who, or rather _what_ , are you?”

The being smiled widely. _Too_ widely.

“You may call me Louisa. As for _what_ I am…” It smiled even wider. “I’m the King of Shadows.”

Goro blinked. “K-King of…”

“I am the leader of all Shadows and demons, my authority only second to certain gods.”

Goro wasn’t sure what surprised him more, that there was a King of Shadows or that the “King” looked like a woman. “Wh-What...?”

“I took on the form of a female human because I wanted to. I’ve always been curious as to what it would be like to live as a human… Not that you would care.”

Goro decided to change the topic. “Where am I?”

Louisa, smiling again, said, “You are in the Tower of Shadows, a place deep within the collective unconscious. It is the birthplace of almost all Shadows.”

“…How did I get here?”

“I brought you here. You asked me to.”

Goro’s eyes widened. “…What?”

“I looked into the Metaverse and saw you lying on the floor, slowly bleeding to death. So I reached out to you and offered you another chance at revenge against Shido.” Louisa shuffled uncomfortably. “Though that didn’t end up happening…”

“…What do you mean?”

“What was the date when you fought the Phantom Thieves?”

“Uh…” Goro closed his eyes again. “I’m not sure.”

“Do you remember what month it was?” Louisa sounded concerned.

“November or December… I’m not sure which…”

“W-Well… Regardless of when you came here… Today’s date is January 14th.”

Goro’s eyes shot open. “What? J-January?”

“I…suppose I should’ve expected it, considering you were on the verge of dying of blood loss when I plucked you out of the Metaverse, but you were unconscious for…quite a while.” Louisa shook its head. “And healing spells can only do so much…”

Goro swung his legs over the edge of whatever he was lying on and hoisted himself up. “I-“

His legs gave out almost immediately. He was barely able to catch himself in time to avoid letting his face hitting the floor.

“Might not be a good idea to push yourself,” said Louisa.

“January…” Goro stammered. “Th-That can’t be…”

“True? I will admit that all you have right now is my word for it. There’s more to say, but that can wait until you’re doing better.”

Goro looked up at Louisa. “Wh-What are you talking about…?”

“As I said, that can wait until you’re doing better. Or at least until you get to this tower’s entrance hall. If you ever need help, feel free to ask one of the Shadows. I’ll warn you, though, it’s a long, _long_ way down.”

With that, Louisa vanished in a puff of black smoke, leaving Goro alone in the room.

0~*~0

Goro sat there on the cold stone floor, not having the will to move.

**_How long do you intend on sitting there, wallowing in despair?_ **

Goro jolted at the all-too-familiar voice.

“Loki…” he mumbled, bringing his hand to his face.

And upon realizing that his face was bare, he looked down at himself and saw that he was still in his Loki outfit.

He whipped around and saw the black, raised bed he had previously been resting on, along with a small platform where Louisa had apparently laid his mask. He crawled over to the platform, grabbed the mask, and put it back on his face.

**_There we go._ **

Goro put his hands on the unnervingly warm bed and hoisted himself up, his legs nearly giving out again. He eventually opted to just sit on the bed and finally take a look around the room.

The room was vast, the white marble walls curving into the ceiling, forming a dome shape. Green light came from the very top, but Goro couldn’t tell if it was from a light fixture or if there was a hole in the ceiling.

The only other piece of furniture was an ornate but small throne against the wall, a red carpet leading from it to a depression in the floor on the other side of the room.

The room felt oppressively vast, and Goro couldn’t help but wonder if it was meant for something much bigger than a human.

Loki’s voice echoed in his head again. **_There’s no time to sit around. We have to get moving and find a way out._**

“Yeah…” Goro muttered as he slid off the bed again. As much as he didn’t want to, he was forced to swallow his pride and crawl on the floor.

He reached the depression in the floor, which turned out to be a staircase leading down. Grabbing into the handrail (which he suspected was there solely for his benefit), he carefully scooted down the stairs until he finally got to the bottom.

“Hey, the human’s finally awake.”

Goro nearly jumped out of his skin as he snapped towards the voice, being greeted by the sight of a humanoid being wearing demonic armor standing guard at the base of the stairs.

“Oh good,” said a relieved voice, coming from a guard on the other side.

“Wh-What…?” Goro said.

“The King should’ve explained where you are.”

“I-It did, but…where in the tower am I?” Goro asked, glancing between the two guards.

“You’re at the very top.”

Goro was afraid to ask, but still said, “How tall is the tower?”

The two guards looked at each other.

“Uh…”

“Not sure.”

“Parts of the layout change frequently, so it tends to vary.”

Goro’s eyes widened slightly. “It…changes?”

“Yes, all on its own. The King can also change it as they see fit, but no matter how the tower changes, two things remain constant: the throne room is always at the very top, and there is at least one path from the entrance hall to the throne room and back. It’s not always a straight path, though.”

Goro had several questions, but decided to ask only one. “Which way leads to the stairs going down?”

One of the guards pointed down the corridor to the left. “Fastest way is that way.”

Goro once again attempted to stand, but his legs gave out after a few seconds; he was forced to crawl/scoot again, which he did so quickly; being forced to crawl was embarrassing enough, but being watched was even worse.

As he left, one of the guards said, “I’m really glad you’re awake. For multiple reasons...”

Goro clambered away as quickly as he could.

0~*~0

Goro made it as far as the next floor down before he had to stop, leaning against a wall between the multitude of windows that stretched as far as Goro could see along the curved hallway. It reminded him of the Sky Tower, though with a much worse view, as all he could see was a thick fog in the distance.

He shut his eyes as he slumped against the wall. It wasn’t the most comfortable place to rest, but he didn’t have many options at that point (or the energy to get to other options).

He was eventually disturbed by the sensation of being prodded in the leg.

He groggily opened his eyes to see a black puddle with hands and a mask poking him. It was also inexplicably holding a rice ball in its free hand.

“What are you doing?” he groaned.

The mask turned to look at him. “You human?” it said in a deep, rocky voice.

“Yes.”

“Never seen human before.”

Goro gave a weak chuckle. “And just what are you?”

“Cowardly Maya.”

Goro raised an eyebrow. He was fairly certain that this was the kind of Shadow not meant to be a Persona. Not that he would’ve tried, if he had ever seen something like it in the Metaverse. He hadn’t even known he could take on more than one Persona until he met Akira-

_No, Kurusu, not Akira-_

His thoughts were abruptly interrupted by the sound of his stomach growling.

The Cowardly Maya held out the rice ball towards Goro. “Was told to give to human when human hungry.”

Goro decided not to ask any questions and instead grabbed the rice ball and bit in. Eating something while wearing his mask and neck brace was somewhat awkward and keeping his arms up long enough to finish eating was harder than he would’ve liked to admit, but it was undeniably satisfying to have food in him, even if it did taste odd--not that he really cared.

After finishing the rice ball, he slumped against the wall and sighed, glancing towards the window. “I wonder if you could climb this place from the outside…”

He put his hand to his mask and attempted to summon Loki. Nothing happened. Trying to summon Robin Hood had the same effect.

_What’s going on?_

**_Something appears to be blocking us,_** said Robin Hood. **_I suppose this is Louisa’s doing._**

Goro gave a light scoff. “Figures…” _This is going to take a while…_

0~*~0

After what was likely days of traveling down the tower, through rooms that were familiar and not ( _why on Earth had there been a SAUNA?),_ Goro finally reached the entrance hall.

The entrance hall was a vast space. The walls were lined with white brick, making the room feel oddly confined.

Before him were a long set of stairs that led into the hall proper. A carpet ran down the stairway and led straight to a large set of double doors. Behind him, a smaller door was set in what appeared to be a large but nonfunctional clock.

Huge as it was, the lack of any real decoration made the room feel unnaturally barren.

He carefully walked down the stairs (he had long since been able to walk again, though he was still unsteady), and staggered over to the set of double-doors.

 ** _I believe that this is the entrance,_** said Robin Hood.

 ** _No kidding,_** snarked Loki.

“There’s no way it can be this easy…” Goro muttered as he took hold of the door handles.

He pulled on them with all his admittedly little might, to no avail. Pushing had the same effect.

 ** _It seems to be locked,_** said Robin Hood.

 ** _Does it look like there’s a lock?,_** snapped Loki.

But before they could start arguing, a familiar voice said, “Congratulations, you made it to the entrance hall.”

Goro whirled around to see Louisa standing behind him, and he now took the time to finally observe its appearance.

Louisa wore a simple, light blue dress and had long, blonde hair. It could’ve passed for a human had it not been for its completely black eyes and the dark aura surrounding it.

“In case you’re wondering about the door, you can’t open it because you’re a human.”

“What?”

It gave a wide smile. “Only a Shadow can open the doors. Not that there’s much beyond them besides foggy barrenness. You’d need a Shadow to get out of there too.”

Goro’s eyes narrowed. “…You don’t intend to let me leave.”

Louisa’s smile widened. “You catch on quickly.”

“Why?”

“I have a…brother, so to speak, who was the King before me. He left several years ago, and I, quite frankly, am tired of waiting for him to return on his own. Sooner or later, someone will realize that you’re here, and they’ll need my ‘brother’ to enter the tower. Only when we are reunited shall you be allowed to leave.”

Goro’s eyes went wide. “Why-?”

“As I said, I brought you here to give you another chance at revenge against Shido. But since that didn’t work out, I’ll be using you for something else.”

Goro glared at it.

Louisa’s smile fell. “…I take it you still don’t remember the deal we made.”

He didn’t answer.

“Well, in any case, there are some things you should know. First of all, attempt to attack anyone in here unprovoked, and I’ll keep you confined to a single room for the rest of the time you’re here. Secondly, there are no restrictions as to where in the tower you can go. Third, don’t bother asking any of the Shadows here to help you get out. I’ve ordered them all to keep you here until my brother returns. And finally, if you have any questions for me, call out to me and I’ll appear. Have you gotten all of that?”

Goro tightened his fists. “You said…that you would tell me more about what happened when I made it to the entrance hall.”

Louisa raised an eyebrow. “I did, but are you sure you wish to hear it now? I don’t want to overwhelm you with information.”

“Just do it,” he said, gritting his teeth.

Louisa blinked. “If you insist.”

And so it told him. Everything. About Shido’s change of heart. About the god that had been using him. And about Kurusu’s dive into prison to lock Shido away. It even used illusions to help illustrate what had happened.

The very first thing Goro said when it had finished was, “I don’t believe you.”

Louisa shrugged. “I don’t blame you. As I said before, all you have is my word that that happened. You can use the scrying pools if you wish, but I doubt you will see those as credible sources, either. You’re free to believe what you want. If you have nothing else to ask of me…Then I shall take my leave.”

With that, Louisa once again vanished in a puff of black smoke, leaving Goro alone in the room.

0~*~0

Goro wasn’t sure how long he had stayed in the room or when exactly he had fallen to his knees, but when he regained awareness, everything was exactly the same as it had been when Louisa left. It seemed odd for that to be the case, considering that his entire world had just about turned upside down.

 ** _Perhaps that was too much information at once…,_** said Robin Hood.

Goro didn’t respond.

 ** _It could still be lying,_** said Loki. **_If not about everything, then at least something._**

“I need to sleep on this,” Goro said as he stood up, shaking.

He had said it as a way of keeping them from arguing, but he really did feel like it would be best to get some sleep. (Though now the question was _where_ he was going to sleep; the sounds he had heard during the time he had tried to sleep in the Love Hotel section had made him never want to go in there again, even if it was one of the few places in the tower with actual beds.)

He slowly staggered away from the double doors and up the stairs, looking back one last time before heading back into the rest of the tower.

0~*~0

“How _did_ you get here?” asked a Daring Gigas in the sauna’s changing room.

Goro shifted uncomfortably on a too-small stool. “I apparently made a deal with Louisa, but I don’t remember doing so.”

“What _do_ you remember?”

Goro closed his eyes. He remembered the Cognitive Akechi shooting him in the side right before he shot it in the head. He was lying on the floor in pain as the Shadows approached him. He remembered that he thought it was odd that they weren’t attacking him and when he said so, one of the Shadows said something about how “the king’s orders always come before that captain’s orders.” Then he heard some kind of voice, but couldn’t remember what the voice sounded like or said.

After hearing that, the Gigas shrugged. “Well, all I can suggest is that you use the scrying pools.”

“What exactly are the scrying pools?”

“They’re pools of water that show what’s happening in the real world. They can show anything that’s happened in the past or present.”

Goro looked down at the floor. If that was the case, then perhaps…

**_How do we know Louisa won’t manipulate what we see in those pools?_ **

Goro jolted at the unexpectedness of the voice, but Loki was right. He couldn’t trust anything provided by Louisa, especially since it seemed intent on sending him into despair.

 ** _You’re not very trusting of Louisa,_** said Robin Hood.

**_Do we have a reason to be?_ **

**_…I suppose not._ **

0~*~0

It struck Goro, while playing the King’s Game with some Shadows in a blue lounge, how much he had gotten used to living in the tower.

The passage of time had long since lost any meaning for Goro. The Shadows had repeatedly told him that the flow of time in the tower was the same as in the human world, but the lack of anything remotely resembling a day\night cycle--or even a functional clock--made him feel as though time was frozen. He just slept when he was tired, ate when he was hungry, and spent most of his time wandering up and down the tower.

He had gotten used to interacting with the Shadows, though some of them still seemed grotesque to him. The Shadows were honest, disgustingly so at times, and while Goro had initially been at a loss on how to deal with it, their honesty was…refreshing. It struck him that at some point, the Shadows had begun treating him as if he himself was one; they had long stopped ogling him every time he came into a room or even bringing up that he was a human. Goro himself had also stopped seeing them as different or lesser than him; he just casually accepted their presence. It also struck him that he should probably feel more bothered by that, but he didn’t care.

0~*~0

His wandering eventually took him to a currently-forming part of the tower; the walls, floor, and ceiling were made of the black, rubber-like material that would eventually harden and turn into whatever it needed to be. He looked around and realized that it greatly resembled the tunnels of Mementos. There were even impressions of train tracks in the ground. Goro couldn’t help but smile at the familiar landscape.

( _You shouldn’t be enjoying this,_ said a long-buried voice. He ignored it.)

He went further in and soon came across a section where sizable black blobs were stuck to the walls and floor. Developing Shadows, he had come to learn; a mask would form on the blob, and part of the blob would split off and turn into a Shadow, taking the mask with it. Larger blobs tended to produce larger Shadows, and sometimes the blob would sprout arms and crawl off as a single Shadow covered in masks. The blobs could appear anywhere in the tower, but they were more likely to show up in developing sections.

They also made for surprisingly comfortable beds.

Upon finding a blob of sufficient length and width a few feet away from the wall, Goro ran his finger along the Shadow blob. When it didn’t react, he promptly lied down on top of it, staring up at the ceiling. He felt the blob wobble under him, as if it hadn’t expected him to do that. After a few minutes, it calmed down and even began to mold itself to his shape. Only then did Goro actually start to relax.

Using the Shadow blobs as beds might not have been the best idea, but the neck brace and mask of his outfit made trying to sleep on a normal bed uncomfortable at best. ( _Look at you,_ said a tiny voice. _You might as well be a Shadow yourself._ ) He was able to change his outfit, but he had gotten used to his current one.

Goro liked these moments, where he could just bask in the tranquility of the tower’s ambiance. No having to worry about putting up facades. No having to worry about getting caught. No having to worry about his past life. Moments like these had been practically nonexistent back then. Being in the tower had made him realize how petty all his worries had been.

Goro closed his eyes and let out a deep breath. The warmth seeping into him from the Shadow blob was comforting.

He had nothing to worry about…

**_…Lies…_ **

0~*~0

The first thing Goro noticed upon waking up was a feeling of emptiness within him.

He tried to brush it off, but it quickly gave rise to a sense of anxiety. He sat up…and realized he was wearing his normal clothes. He blinked and ran his hands over them, just to make sure it was real.

_I have a bad feeling about this… Robin Hood, Loki, are you there?_

**_I am here,_** replied Robin Hood.

_Is Loki there?_

**_No. He seems to have disappeared while you were sleeping._ **

A sense of dread flooded over Goro and he quickly got off the Shadow blob and started walking. He didn’t have anywhere in particular in mind; he just felt the need to move.

It wasn’t until after about five minutes worth of wandering that he finally started to realize why he might’ve felt so anxious; he had had Loki ever since the first time he had ended up in the Metaverse. It was what had allowed him to induce psychotic breakdowns and fight Shadows. Having Loki gave him a sense of power he had never had up to that point in his life. And for so long, it seemed like Loki’s power was all he needed. He didn’t even know he could have more than one Persona until he met-

“Ooo, Goro honey, what happened to your clothes?”

The overly-familiar way of addressing him made his thoughts come to a screeching halt until he saw that it was a Succubus talking to him.

“I’m not sure,” Goro said. “I just woke up like this.”

The Succubus winked. “You ‘just woke up like that,’ huh?”

Goro knew the Succubus was just teasing him, but he still couldn’t help but roll his eyes as he resumed walking.

Several other encounters with Shadows went similarly, though some were polite or at least interested enough to just give him a longer-than-normal glance.

After walking through what felt like at least half the length of the tower, Goro finally stopped to take a break.

A Cowardly Maya approached him. “Human outfit different.”

Goro nodded. “I’ve been getting that a lot today.”

“What human doing?”

**“Running away, obviously.”**

_…_

_…_

_…What?_

**“That’s all you’ve been doing lately, isn’t it?”**

Goro slowly turned in the direction of the new and somewhat familiar voice.

The first thing he saw were the yellow eyes glowing in the dark hallway.

**“You’ve been running away from everything that has to do with your past life ever since you woke up in this tower.”**

Something stepped into the light coming in through one of the windows and it was-

Goro felt bile rise in the back of his throat as he took a step back.

It looked exactly like him and too much like _that accursed Cognition of him_ , with its arms spread out and its eyes were too big and its sneer-

It took another step towards him, and Goro turned and ran.

And ran.

And ran until his legs gave out and he collapsed to the floor.

He lied there for several moments, shaking. His limbs wouldn’t move and his stomach still felt-

**“Oh, how thoughtless of me.”**

Goro’s head jerked upward at the sound of the distorted voice. His Shadow was standing ten feet in front of him.

**“I should’ve known making my entrance like that would’ve reminded you of Shido’s Cognition of you and how you felt about seeing that, considering I am you, after all.”**

Goro barely registered what it was saying. “H-How…?”

“It’s what happens,” said a familiar voice.

Goro craned his neck to look and saw Louisa standing several feet behind him. “What do you mean?”

“If a Persona user falls into despair or loses their resolve, their Persona will turn into their Shadow Self. For people that can use more than one Persona, their initial or Ultimate Persona will be the one to revert.”

“Ultimate…Persona…?”

“Don’t worry about it. As for you…” Louisa walked up to Goro’s Shadow and touched the tip of his nose. “Allow me to make this clear. While I cannot stop you from leaving the tower through the front doors…if you attempt to take your real self out of the tower or even open the front doors while he’s in the entrance hall…there will be severe consequences.”

The Shadow smirked. **“What are you going to do, kill me?”**

Louisa shook its head. “No, but I know of ways of persuasion that will override even a Shadow Self’s impulsive nature.”

**“Is that a challenge?”**

“It’s best if you don’t test me.”

Louisa then once again vanished in a puff of black smoke, leaving Goro alone with his Shadow.

The Shadow bent down to be at eye-level with Goro. **“Now we have aaaaaaaaaaaaaall the time we need to do this.”**

“Don’t say things that sound disgusting.”

0~*~0

After Goro got used to having something that looked like him constantly following him around, he was surprisingly apathetic towards his Shadow.

Though it was undoubtedly annoying.

**“You miss them, the Phantom Thieves. Especially Akira. Even though he was the face of everything you wanted but didn’t have, even though you two were supposed to be enemies, you still felt a bond with him. Meeting him, and the rest of them, seemed almost to be worth having to live your sorry life. And yet even that is stained with regrets.”**

Goro began walking faster in the vain hope that he might be able to outpace his Shadow.

**“Still trying to run away? You know you can’t do that.”**

0~*~0

**“You’re afraid.”**

“Afraid of what, specifically?” Goro seethed as he helped dye cloth.

**“Afraid that everything that Louisa said was true.”**

Goro didn’t usually debate with his Shadow, but… “Can you blame me for that?”

**“Not really, considering what it would mean if everything was indeed true.”**

“That’s why I try not to dwell on it. There’s no point to it anyway, considering I don’t have a trustworthy way of checking whether Louisa was telling the truth or not.”

An Elegant Mother nearby considered mentioning the scrying pools, but decided against it.

**“Even if you did, would you really want to know if it was true or not?”**

Goro thought for several moments before answering, “Taking that risk seems better than being in a perpetual state of ‘what-if.’”

**“Even if it ends up being the worst-case scenario?”**

“As I said. Taking that risk seems better than being in a perpetual state of ‘what-if.’ I may think differently by the time I get access to a trustworthy source.”

0~*~0

**“When was the last time you even thought about your past life before I showed up? Did you intend on just floating through life in the tower like a Shadow, pretending like everything you’ve done never happened?”**

Goro kept walking.

**“You did, in some way. It wasn’t exactly a conscious thought, but it was still there. You wanted to act like all the mistakes you had made never happened. And why? Why try to forget about how you felt about the Phantom Thieves? About the people you forced to rampage? About all the people that were hurt or dead by your actions? Because-“**

Goro, finally fed up with his Shadow, turned on his heel to face him. “Why are you doing this?”

The Shadow tilted his head. **“Hmm?”**

“What exactly are you hoping to accomplish by telling me everything I’m apparently repressing? What are you trying to do?”

**“Trying to get you to accept yourself!”**

“And what’ll happen if I do that?”

**“I’ll turn back into your Persona.”**

“And?”

**“…What happens after that is up to you.”**

“All that’ll happen is that you’ll turn back into Loki?”

**“…That will be the only direct consequence, yes.”**

“I can’t just say that I accept you, correct?”

**“Yes. You have to mean it. And you have to accept everything that I represent, not just part of it.”**

“…As my Shadow, you should know everything I know, correct?”

**“Yes. I know everything you know, I feel everything you feel, and I know that-“**

Goro took a step towards his Shadow. “Then you should know how pointless your current endeavor is.”

**“…Huh?”**

 “I cannot leave the tower on my own. I can only leave after Louisa’s ‘brother’ comes back. And you should remember what happened when you tried to let me out yourself.”

The Shadow tensed up at the memory. **“Well…yes…but-“**

“I’m being forced to wait to be rescued. I’m not even allowed to die. I tried that and they stopped me. And the only people who saw what happened to me are the Phantom Thieves. They have no reason to think I’m here. They likely think that I’m dead. I have no way of letting anyone, let alone them, know that I’m here. And even if I was somehow able to genuinely accept you, it wouldn’t change anything. As long as they aren’t here, as long as I’m incapable of getting out of this tower, there’s no point to accepting you. Unless you do something to concretely change my situation, such as getting the Phantom Thieves to come here, there’s no point in talking to me.”

The Shadow took a step back.

“For you to not realize that…can you really call yourself my Shadow?”

The Shadow turned and ran.

Goro couldn’t help but get one last gloat in. “Now look who’s running away!”

0~*~0

He ran.

He hated that he was running, but he didn’t have many other choices. His real self was right; as long as the situation stayed the way it was, Goro wouldn’t be able to accept him.

That, of course, meant that he had to do something to change the situation, as his real self had said. He wasn’t sure exactly WHAT he could do yet, but he was going to do _something_.

Still, to have his very nature as a Shadow Self questioned by his owner…

And he hadn’t even gotten to the most important part of his speech!

He kept running and running until he ended up on a balcony in the upper parts of the tower. The balcony was bland; no decorations, the floor was the same as in the hallway, and the railing was nothing more than a waist-high stone wall.

The Shadow rested his arms on the railing and stared out into the distance. He could see parts of the outside of the tower, but not much, and the only thing visible in the distance was the omnipresent fog.

He had to make his real self accept him. Goro wouldn’t be able to go back to the human world until he did.

The Shadow sighed.

**“Akira… Please… Help me…”**

He stayed there for several minutes, trying to think of a plan, when he overheard voices coming from the hallway.

“I miss the days when the Midnight Channel was airing.”

“I don’t.”

_Midnight Channel?_

He crept back to the doorway and saw a Venus Eagle and Wealth Hand talking to each other. He walked up to them and said, **“What is this ‘Midnight Channel?’”**

The Venus Eagle said, “I’m not sure on all the details… I think it was started by some god thing, but I forget their name… All I really know is that an image of a person would show up on TVs in the human world and then they’d end up in our world. And for all but the first two people, a bunch of people would come in and take them back to the human world.”

The Shadow Self’s eyes widened. **“Really?”**

“Yeah,” the Wealth Hand deadpanned. “I almost got killed by them.”

**“How does it work?”**

The Venus Eagle ruffled its feathers. “You’d be better off asking someone else. As I said, I’m not sure on all the details.”

The Shadow Self was nearly trembling with excitement. **“Okay. Thank you for telling me.”**

“No problem.”

With that, he ran off in search of more information. He finally had a potential lead, and he wasn’t about to waste it.

In another part of the tower, Louisa, who had seen the exchange, smirked. Everything was going according to plan.

0~*~0

 ** _I’m not sure this is a good idea…,_** said Robin Hood.

“I’m too curious,” said Goro.

**_I’m afraid for what it could do to you, especially if Louisa really is trying to send you into despair._ **

“For all I know, Loki turning into my Shadow Self might’ve been part of Louisa’s plan.”

**_Are you to say you’ve given up?_ **

Goro pretended not to hear as he arrived at his destination.

The scrying pools were located in a large, circular room. The walls and ceiling were covered in red velvet fabric, giving the impression of the room being in a tent. The scrying pools themselves were pools of water of varying sizes set into the cobblestone floor. The pools seemed to glow, basking the room in an ethereal blue light.

Goro knelt down next to the largest pool. The light from the pool was bright enough that he couldn’t tell how deep it was. He stuck his hand into it, and his hand almost seemed to disappear.

**_What do you even want to see?_ **

“I want to know if I really did make a deal with Louisa.”

An image started to form on the surface of the water, and Goro yanked his hand away.

The pool showed an image of Goro lying on the floor of the engine room in his Loki outfit, surrounded by Shadows.

0~*~0

“What are you waiting for?” Goro asked weakly.

“The King has given us orders to spare you,” replied one of the Shadows, “and the King’s orders are absolute.”

“K-King…?”

Goro gripped his head as a reverberating voice rang out.

_“Poor pitiable boy, who put himself in chains in the hopes of bringing down another with him, only to find his efforts all for naught. And now you are to die alone in your father’s Palace, hoping for others to take revenge for you. But it does not have to be that way. Can you hear me?”_

“Y-Yes,” Goro said, his voice strained. “I can hear you.”

_“Good. I am willing to make a deal with you. I will heal you and give you another chance at revenge against Shido, letting you fight him alongside the Phantom Thieves. In exchange, you will find and bring to me a certain person in the human world. I already know his name and location, so it should be easy for you. What do you say?”_

Goro took a shaky inhale. “I…accept.”

Light enveloped Goro, and he and the Shadows vanished.

0~*~0

The image faded. The voice was undoubtedly Louisa’s, and Goro couldn’t help but let out a chuckle.

“Whether or not that actually happened,” he muttered, “it certainly seems believable.”

**_Now that that question has been answered, you should-_ **

Goro stuck his hand in the water again.

**_Goro. Don’t do it._ **

“I want to know what happened to the Phantom Thieves after they fought me.”

0~*~0

The pool showed him everything. Even things Louisa hadn’t mentioned, like the “Velvet Room” and its inhabitants. There was nothing to contradict what Louisa told him.

When the image of Kurusu being welcomed back by his teammates after getting out of jail faded, Goro felt himself shaking.

He wasn’t sure if he would laugh or cry until he started doing the first.

“So… So that’s how Louisa’s going to play this.”

He had to admit, there were things that he could believe. Shido suspecting that Goro was his son because of Goro’s resemblance to his mother, he could believe that. The existence of a Velvet Room, not the weirdest thing he had seen. The general public seemingly forgetting about his existence… He didn’t have an explanation for that, but it wasn’t as painful as perhaps it should’ve been.

But that was probably Louisa’s plan. To mix in believable things to make its story seem more credible.

_Well I’m not going to fall for it. Even if there is truth in it, the best lies have some truth to them. I’m not going to fall for it. I’m not going to fall for it…_

He kept laughing. He laughed so hard, tears started rolling down his face.

“Very clever, Louisa… Very clever…”

(He expected Robin Hood to speak, but there was nothing.)

“I’m not going to fall for it… I’m not going to fall for it…” he chanted to himself.

Goro sprang up and ran away from the scrying pools and into the hallway, trying to pretend he didn’t notice the cracked mirrors now lining it.


End file.
